Garden Arion
Arion hortensis
When threatened, this slug can contract its body into a compact, hemispherical shape, making it harder for predators to grip.
- Scientific name
- Arion hortensis
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Mollusca › Gastropoda › Stylommatophora › Arionidae › Arion
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- urban
- Habitat
- Cultivated gardens, parks, agricultural fields, and woodland margins with moist soil.
- Diet
- Herbivorous and detritivorous; feeds on living plant tissue, seedlings, fungi, and decaying organic matter.
- Range
- Western Europe, Central Europe, North America (Introduced), New Zealand (Introduced)
- Size
- 25-40 mm in length
- Lifespan
- 6-12 months
- Active
- nocturnal
- Threats
- Use of chemical molluscicides (slug pellets), habitat fragmentation, and predation by ground beetles.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to humans. Avoid handling with bare hands as their defensive mucus is extremely sticky and difficult to remove from skin. If contact occurs, wash the area thoroughly with soap and warm water.
Arion hortensis , also known by its common name the "garden slug", "small striped slug" or "black field slug" is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.
Photo: Adrienne van den Beemt, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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